D’Antoni hiring ‘stuns’ Jackson — and probably the rest of the NBA

With his measured bearing and Zen training, it wasn’t often Phil Jackson found himself taken aback by much of anything. Win or lose — which didn’t happen often during his Hall of Fame coaching career — he was always ready with a half-smirk or sarcastic quip to diffuse the situation.

Sort of a like a cross between the Dalai Lama and Alfred E. Neuman.

Until today, however, when Jackson was said to be “stunned” by the choice of Mike D’Antoni to head up the Lakers in replacement of Mike Brown, who was fired last week in one of the quickest dismissals in NBA history.

Sources said that D’Antonio was seen as a better fit with L.A.’s personnel — i.e. Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. D’Antoni and Nash teamed to create a series of high-powered offenses in Phoenix, while Howard struggled with elements of the Princeton offense implemented by Brown, a read-and-react set similar to Jackson’s fabled triangle.

Multiple outlets reported that Jackson, who had previously coached the Lakers to a total of five championships in two different stints, had been told the job was his if he wanted, with the only sticking point being his aversion at 67 years old to the NBA’s grueling travel requirements. Less circulated reports also had Jackson demanding Lakers VP Jim Buss to cede organizational control.

In the end, however, the Lakers followed one surprise with an even bigger one by hiring a coach whose retread status isn’t much less pronounced than Brown’s.

So what to expect from D’Antoni?

Nash should love the hiring after riding D’Antoni’s fabled “Seven Seconds or Less” system to a pair of MVP awards in Phoenix. The two were together for four full seasons in the Valley of the Sun, during which the Suns never finished worse than second in offensive efficiency. Those teams routinely disappointed in the playoffs, however, including three losses to the Spurs.

It should also benefit Howard, who routinely ranks among the best big men in the league at pick-and-roll play, one of the backbones of the SSOL offense. And there probably isn’t an offensive system in existence that can prevent Kobe Bryant from scoring. (Bryant and D’Antoni also speak fluent Italian, which means they can argue about Kobe’s shot selection in multiple languages.)

But there are also major questions, particularly L.A.’s lack of shooting. All four of D’Antoni’s full Suns teams finished first in the league in 3-point percentage, using quick shots from long range to pump up the tempo as much as their running game.

With the Lakers, however, he’s got a team currently ranked 18th in the league at 33.1 percent. That doesn’t bode well considering poor 3-point shooting was a major reason why D’Antoni was unable to duplicate Phoenix’s offensive success with the New York Knicks.

Then there’s the matter of defense, a consistent flaw in both the teams D’Antoni has coached in the past and the one he’s currently taking over. None of the eight squads D’Antoni coached for a full season finished better than 13th in defensive rating. That’s in stark contrast to Jackson, whose teams were routinely among the best defensive teams in the league.

So while the Lakers were probably fortunate to be able to land such an experienced coach at this point of the season, there are plenty of reasons D’Antoni was available in the first place. At least in Jackson’s case, his schedule was open by choice.